World of Warcraft 50% off

As gaming companies are wont to do at this time of year, Blizzard has put World of Warcraft on sale - both the Battle Chest which takes users up to Cataclysm, and the Mists of Pandaria expansion pack. You can pick up both at the Battle Net Store for $10 a piece, $20 for the pair. The 25% off action figures ends today, so if you want one now's the time!

Free Faction Changes for Horde on Select Realms

Free Faction Changes are on offer for Horde players on selected realms: Bloodscalp, Firetree, and Frostmane. Eligible characters will be able to transfer from Horde to Alliance for approximately** two weeks beginning on June 24. This is part of an ongoing effort to balance PvP queue times, which are unacceptably long for Horde players. All three of these realms vary from 55% to 65% Horde, so while they are definitely imbalanced in the Horde's favor, they are not excessively so. Holinka has also tweeted with more insight:

Read the full blog by expanding the box below:

Blizzard

We consistently watch queue times for all areas of the game to try to identify problem areas where we can step in and make an improvement. Battleground queue times specifically tend to be a direct result of how many people are entering the queue at any given time from both the Horde and the Alliance within an entire region. While a number of factors can lead to longer queue times, faction interest in queuing for PvP tends to be the primary one. For that reason, for a limited time and only for select realms, we'll be allowing Horde characters to changed their faction to the Alliance for free.

These faction changes will be provided on a limited basis to players on realms where we see the greatest potential for making an impact. Guild leaders who want to faction-change their guild for free will first need to pay for the initial transaction, but will be granted a refund* if they change to the eligible faction within the free-faction-change time frame.

Free faction changes will be made available to Horde players on Bloodscalp, Firetree, and Frostmane. Eligible characters will be able to transfer from Horde to Alliance for approximately** two weeks beginning on June 24. If you're looking to transfer—and especially if you’re a guild leader looking to initiate a guild faction change—we highly recommend taking advantage of this offer as soon as possible to avoid leaving anyone behind. For more information on faction change eligibility and limitations, please visit the support site here.

Players who wish to take advantage of the faction change will need to log in to the game to initiate the change.

We'll be providing updates on availability—as well as if this offer is extended to additional realms—here on the front page, so keep checking back. We look forward to your feedback, and we’ll continue to work to help ensure you spend less time in a queue and more time slaughtering your enemies in glorious team combat.

**Faction Change availability may either be shortened or extended depending on ongoing evaluation during the transfer period.

Significant Tweets

We know it's hard to keep up with tweet traffic, so we've put together a post sorting all the tweets since our last update into easy-to-read tabs. And of course there's the Wowhead Blue Tweet Tracker and @WowheadTweets on Twitter!

Neutral Pandaren Hits Level 90

Neutral Pandaren Doubleagent has hit level 90 without ever leaving the Wandering Isle. In a testament as much to his patience as to anything else, Doubleagent has leveled all the way to 90 just by picking herbs, mining, and quests. He never picked a faction, so queuing for group content and the like was never available to him. Congratulations, Doubleagent!

Deserter Debuff Updates for Rated PvP

Blizzard Community Manager Lore has posted ont he official forums with an update on the Deserter Debuff:

Lore

As part of our continued efforts to curb exploitive behavior and improve the overall PvP experience for our players, we’re applying a couple hotfixes that will make a few changes to how the Deserter debuff functions, and also apply it to Arenas and Rated Battlegrounds.

Once these hotfixes are applied, a player who leaves an Arena or Rated Battleground before anyone in the match has entered combat will, at first, be given a 5-minute Deserter debuff. If they leave another match prematurely within a 20-minute window, the duration of the Deserter debuff will increase by 5 minutes each time (and the 20-minute window will restart), to a maximum of 20 minutes. The debuff will also apply if a player leaves the queue (or ignores it) once the match is ready and they’re given the prompt to enter.

The Deserter debuff given for leaving a Random Battleground early will also be changed to begin at 5 minutes (and increase by 5 minutes for each subsequent desertion), but otherwise the rules will stay the same. Leaving a Random Battleground in progress at any point before it’s finished will give the Deserter debuff, and leaving or ignoring the prompt to enter a Random Battleground will not.

We’re currently in the process of preparing and testing the hotfix, but hope to push it live with this week’s maintenance period.

Update: Deserter Debuff Hotfix Notes Added

Blizzard

Battlegrounds and Arenas

Deserter debuff

Deserter debuff now lasts 5 minutes (down from 20 minutes). New applications of the Deserter debuff within a 20-minute rolling window extends its duration by 5 additional minutes each time, up to a maximum of 20 minutes.

The Deserter debuff is applied under the following conditions:

Arena or Rated Battlegrounds: Leaving the queue, ignoring the prompt to enter when the match is ready, or leaving the match before anyone has entered combat.

Comment by koutsoukjohn

Wow. And I thought the Ironman Challenge was ridiculous enough but Doubleagent takes it to a whole new level....

Also, does that mean he is still stuck on the Wandering Isle? Can't think of a way for him/her to get off...

He can always complete the quest to pick a faction if he wishes to

Comment by MrVolare

on 2014-06-23T18:10:38-05:00

As someone who reached max level as a neutral in AO years ago, I applaud Double Agent. Playing against the mechanics of a game can take some serious pig-headedness. Congrats!

Comment by Nerrevar

on 2014-06-23T18:37:05-05:00

Aw Sh*t I knew i should've waited to buy MOP, not sure if it was worth it now...

Comment by Nerrevar

on 2014-06-23T18:40:14-05:00

But it's been confirmed that he's not going to pick a faction and will stick to neutral, even after wod release.

Comment by maely

on 2014-06-23T19:01:35-05:00

I can't believe they are reducing the penalty for quitting a losing-bg-in-progress from 15min to 5min. They should INCREASE it to like 1 hour. It was already bad enough to waste your queue on a loss-in-progress, but now it's going to be even more common...

OK, maybe I *can* believe that Blizzard is still actively working to destroy this game... sigh...

Comment by blinkbard

on 2014-06-23T20:11:18-05:00

I don't understand how you could level to 90 in a low level zone... I thought low level stuff stops giving experience above a certain threshold.

He gathered herbs and mined to get the levels. 170+ days total play time for him to accomplish that

Comment by MadameRed

on 2014-06-23T20:17:14-05:00

First the Horde get a bike, now a faction change? D:I wanna be Horde...

Comment by AceHuldarr

on 2014-06-23T22:36:09-05:00

I can't believe they are reducing the penalty for quitting a losing-bg-in-progress from 15min to 5min. They should INCREASE it to like 1 hour. It was already bad enough to waste your queue on a loss-in-progress, but now it's going to be even more common...

OK, maybe I *can* believe that Blizzard is still actively working to destroy this game... sigh...

Did you actually read the article or did you just stop reading after skimming the bit you didn't like? For every desertion, the debuff *increases* by five minutes, up to a maximum of 20.

Players that don't pay attention and go off the handle are what's destroying the game.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2014-06-23T23:13:28-05:00

First the Horde get a bike, now a faction change? D:I wanna be Horde...

A: The bike was the result of a contest, not decided by the devs.

B: The faction change is being made in favor of the alliance, since there's too many horde players that pvp, but too few alliance ones. So they're helping you guys out by offering free transfers for horde.

Comment by Spectrence

on 2014-06-24T01:49:39-05:00

I can't believe they are reducing the penalty for quitting a losing-bg-in-progress from 15min to 5min. They should INCREASE it to like 1 hour. It was already bad enough to waste your queue on a loss-in-progress, but now it's going to be even more common...

OK, maybe I *can* believe that Blizzard is still actively working to destroy this game... sigh...

Did you actually read the article or did you just stop reading after skimming the bit you didn't like? For every desertion, the debuff *increases* by five minutes, up to a maximum of 20.

Players that don't pay attention and go off the handle are what's destroying the game.

while I do agree with you that people overreact, in this case it does benefit the deserters. Currently, deserter is 15min. The proposed change gives you a 5min mark, and then if you desert again, a 10min mark (and on and on). In other words, you're allowed to afk/leave and ruin the game for your team twice for a 15min total deserter as opposed to the one time the current system has. If a person keeps leaving over and over, they just cap out at 20, which is only 5min more than now. So for a deserter's PoV...at best, it allows more deserting, and at worst it's only slightly longer. This change does benefit those who rage quit or afk :(

Comment by Aislinge

on 2014-06-24T03:08:22-05:00

I still don't know what (aside from boredom and because he could) possessed Doubleagent to do it. For months I've been watching him update us and each time I though 'nah, he'll give it away'. He stuck at it though as nuts as it was.